Brown-nosing Smuttynose

HAPPY NATIONAL DRINK BEER DAY EVERYONE! Every once in awhile in the quest to find one thing you discover something else. That discovery can be as good as the original goal in your journey. While I don't believe I found the biggest diamond in the rough, I'm pleasantly pleased what I discovered in this brew.

It's hard to read from the glare, and label, chosen but this time around we are trying Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale.  The label is a bit dated, but is decorative when it comes to beer labels. The beer label looked washed out, which may either be a label mistake, random bad label batch, or that's literally the way this label comes. It almost works for it, given it an authentic age look. I could be just extrapolating a little too much from just a label ;) Onwards!

It's hard to tell from this picture but the color of the beer is nearly orange with a solid frothy head that took a little time before it settled. Even the foam had the tiniest of color to it. When it came to flavor, the beer had what I'd describe as a raw-er pumpkin flavor. Ever accidentally licked your fingers after carving a pumpkin? Yea me neither, but that's what I'd liken this to. It's got a bit of alcohol strength, with strong caramel sweetness. I'd more accurately describe this as a blend of a fall beer with a pumpkin beer. I really enjoyed it for it's great balance as a pumpkin beer without actually hiding the pumpkin flavor. I give Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale a French PINTRS score as one of the best fall beers I've had. Bravo!

A Dogfish Halloween

Evening all!

So many pumpkin beers to drink, so much time to drink it in! We've done 3 so far and while some are good beers, they're not what I would consider the penultimate pumpkin beer still. Our quest won't be stopped by a Fall mediocrity, we will press on! And with that, I introduce Dogfish Punkin Ale as our next tasting.

Being in Dogfish territory, I got pretty excited when I saw this on the shelf. Dogfish is known for it's high quality, consistent good beers. They're also known for going way out of bounds in the brewing department, coming up with modern day recipes to ancient brew or mixing the craziest flavors together to see what happens. The beer is so easy to recognize on your local liquor store shelf thanks to they're great and solid branding. What's behind the label?

That color is unexpected, right? No your eyes or my camera are not deceiving you. That beer has a distinguishable redness to it's ale. A dark amber beer with a ruby glint. It has a small beer head but brought quite a lot of carbonation to the table.

On taste, this is a 'spicy' beer. Allspice and nutmeg pack a powerful bunch in this beer. The brown sugar practically sticks to the glass. It even has the slightest hint of a mead-like sweetness. I let this beer sit a little while and was surprised how much the beer softened up and became a much lighter and balanced sweet beer than when it was first popped open. What about the pumpkin? On initial tasting, the nutmeg and allspice overpowered it completely. However, after letting it sit, the spices mellowed and among the brown sugar sat a medium-body pumpkin flavor. I'm not totally convinced this was successful as a PUMPKIN beer. It was definitely successful as a fall beer, and I'll definitely buy this before the season is over. I toast Dogfish to a UK PINTRS rating.

Halloween at the Shipyard

Evening readers!

Tonight's pumpkin beer hails from one of my favored breweries, Shipyard. I've reviewed their beers here before, but this will be the first time a embrace their pumpkin offering, Pumpkinhead, with my palate. Let's see where this ship sails.

I'm so use to the typical Shipyard label that this one throws me for a loop. Small point to critique them on, but I think they could embrace their navel history with a pumpkin twist. But what do I know. This is a very recognizable beer in your local store, and it has been for years.

It's a very frothy pour. lots of carbonation that quickly settles. It's a lighter color, definitely on the lighter side when compared to most pumpkin or Oktoberfest beers. I'd even say it's the color of a turned leaf, which is poignant considering the time of year we see this selection. The aroma is very light. So far, I'm not overly impressed. '

Whereas I've been harsh on beers that are light on pumpkin when they call themselves a pumpkin beer, Shipyard walks a very thin plank and manages to stay on. I'm reminded when I try, and fail, to bake. Were I to try and bake a pumpkin pie, I'm pretty sure I'd leave out several ingredients and come up with a flavor like this. It's a rawer pumpkin flavor, not incorporated with sugar but hinted at with sugar. There's the slightest copper aftertaste in a swallow that is light and bubbly. After several minutes I was surprised at the hidden sweetness in the beer. Halfway through the glass it was more noticeable. Shipyard Pumpkinhead is promoting pumpkin with spices that I thought were balanced in such a way to bring out a pumpkin flavor, not overpower it. For it's balancing act I give Shipyard Pumpkinhead a UK PINTRS score.

So far we've seen lots of average and decent beers, some fails, but nothing excelling. I'm still waiting to be wowed!

Silencing Buffalo Bill

Happy Labor Day Weekend readers!

We're on the hunt, stacking up this year's pumpkin beer selection for who reigns supreme in 2012! So far I've tasted two that I would consider misses, one more so than the other. It's time to introduce you to the 'more so' of the bunch.

I give you Buffalo Bill's Brewery. I've never had one of their beers because, to be honest, every time I have seen one of their selections in the store I have been unimpressed with their bottle art (with the exception of Alimony Ale; that's pretty sick looking). I'll be damned if I let any pumpkin beer I can get skip by just because of 'meh' box art.

It look's pretty solid, right? Not sure if it's just the lighting but the beer itself was much lighter than this picture suggests. It had a nice foamy head, and only a hint of spice or pumpkin aroma. So far, they've lost me on the scent and the look of the bottle. Two strikes before I've tasted it isn't a good sign, though in the glass was more uplifting.

The taste is what we care about, but that's where it missed the most. Yes, there is good spicing. Too much spicing for a pumpkin beer in my opinion. More of a pumpkin beer with Oktoberfest flavors. But where's the pumpkin? Somewhere in this batch there was a pumpkin I imagine but it didn't make it into my bottle. Think of pumpkin zest rather than any real sold pumpkin. This beer, though easy to drink, lacks anything to separate it from your normal fall brew offering. This deserves nothing more than a Flanders PINTRS rating. I'm happy to say it looks like Beer Advocate and it's readers tend to agree with my assessment. Our search continues, and so far we haven't found a positive step this fall yet!

Pot Shot at Amber Ale

Happy Friday All!

Our first blog post on our first week of regularly updates is none other than my first home brew creation, .38 Amber!

.38 Amber is my first try with the Mr. Beer home brewing kit's Cowboy Golden Lager. On the scale of complex beers, this is your base. Nothing crazy is going on in the hops, the yeast, the malt. If you're looking for a home brew equivalent of a Budweiser, this is what I understood as what you're looking for.

After the pour, I noticed a few particularly things. The head on this isn't large, nor does it look like it was supposed to be. There is very little in aroma here either; the slightest hint of bitterness but mostly clean.  This picture above doesn't accurately portray the color. Rather than the very light tone the picture seems to suggest, the beer is much closer to amber. It's slightly lighter than I would want or expect so a darker malt might be the way to go. Or more fermentation time in the keg.  Clearly, this will take some experimenting.  But how does it hold up in flavoring?

The first taste is fairly unremarkable. However, I'd consider that a success.  If you're aiming for a simple and large target, and you hit it cleanly, you can't fault the target for being too easy. This really is a beginner's beer for both beer drinkers and beer makers.  It's a very clean beer, with the slightest hint of bitterness on the palate which aligns right with the slight scent. I do think we may have misfired on the carbonation. I'd say this particular bottle had a bit too much sugar at the start of the carbonation process and will be something to remember in the future. However, I'd certainly rather be on the side of slightly over-carbonated than risk a flat beer.

This beer also may need a bit more maturity. At the moment several bottles are still under cold conditioning and we'll maybe revisit this brew in a few more months to see if time adds (or subtracts) anything. I have to be honest with myself (and this recipe) and give it a US PINTRS score. Not quite a triumph but certainly not a failure, this caliber beer will get the job done.  

Return of the Brews

Hello All!

It's been months since we've had any activity on the Good Brew Hunting. That doesn't mean we haven't been hard at work! Tonight we'll be posting a review of 1554, a black ale from New Belgium Brewing who have been pleasing beer enthusiasts with Fat Tire for some time now.

The exciting news is the first round of drinkable beers from my own line of personal brews brewed under the name Rayje Brewing.  Here's the first bottle of our first selection, Rayje Brewing's .22 Blonde!

Each selection will be based off a sized ammunition and while .22 Blonde is the lighter and simpler in our future planned lineup, a .22 can still do some damage.  It's got the flavor to perk up the taste buds with the drinkability of a summer-like beer (or at least we hope so!).

Our backlog of beer in the fridge has significantly decreased since the end of my beer of the month club subscription (sad).  But the reviews will keep on coming, with at least 1 a week, with various selections as well as the review of each Rayje Brewing beer as it is fully ready for drinking.  We'll also be going back to different beers at different times throughout it's life cycle to see how these home brews change with maturity.

Here's to a new chapter in Good Brew Hunting's story! Huzzah!

Shipyard Sets Sail

Hello all!

Today we've got one of the more popular of the craft breweries (at least in New England), Shipyard Brewing Company.  A brewery with it's roots grown deep in Maine, the brewery has some serious success throughout the country and is able to boast a 38 state market.  That's no small feat for a craft brewery and today I picked up their flagship (no pun intended) beer, the Shipyard Export Ale.

Shipyard Export is hard to miss on your local liquor store's shelf.  It's label is very matter-of-fact and looks classy not cheesy.  Shipyard Brewing Company provides some great in-depth information on each of their brews, including a specific breakdown of hops, yeast, and malt used. It's described as lightly sweet, subtle, and clean at the finish. Do they pull it off?

Ignoring the strange curvature of this photo, the color is really quite pretty. It's sharp and golden color is inviting and it is devoid of smell. On first taste you'll want to draw comparisons to a flagship ale of one of the Big 3. However, take some more time with it. It's definitely refreshing, but there is a lot of subtle flavor to discover. There are slight citrus undertones with the sweetness, quite flavorful but homely simple all in the same.

Maybe not full in flavor, but easy to drink with plenty of flavor to last throughout the glass.  Maybe the name is affecting me, but this really is the perfect beer for a clam boil. I'm comfortable in giving it a UK PINTRS rating, as it is a great flagship ale for a brewery that has a lot of depth. Consider this a nice tip to a bigger iceberg.

Ubu is more than just an Adirondack

Evening all!

Tonight we begin the first of two reviews of the Lake Placid Brewing Company. Lake Placid Brewing Company is the culmination of two people who loved the craft of beer and took up residence in a small pub in (you guessed it) the village of Lake Placid.  The flagship beer of the brewery, Ubu Ale, will be the subject of tonight's review.  This is, literally, a presidential beer and I highly recommend checking out the Lake Placid Brewing Company website for the full story.  After reading it, I was excited to see what could be so special in this bottle (though, given the president in question and his taste in women, perhaps I should have approached it a little more cautiously...)

Now that you see the label of the beer (and if you know what an Adirondack village is) you know where I went with the title.  It's simple yet effective.  This is the flagship of the brewery and it stands on it's own two feet.  The label is a little 'busy' if I want to get picky.  A solid tone label with the Adirondack chair and the title would help it stand out a bit.  Now what's under the cap?

You'll notice the beer has little to no head.  I was somewhat surprised at that considering it's described as an English Strong Ale and I would expect a little bit more in such an ale.  The smell was very distinct to stat with, first with a molasses sweet smell with the scent of chocolate.  This quickly faded to the background and provided a hint of the smell for the rest of the tasting.

Upon taste, I was impressed with the smooth, rich, malt flavor.  Described by Lake Placid Brewing Company as deep garnet red but really looking more brown, it certainly delivered on the flavor I would expect with a beer of reddish hue.  It reminded me of dark chocolate; balanced in sweetness and bitterness that felt genuine.  When the beer is described as being complimented by just the right amount of English hops I have to agree.  Hardly over powering but certainly there in adding depth to the beer.  The beer left behind a stickiness which resembled a scotch ale both on my palate and in the glass but with less bite.  

This beer belongs beside you, certainly in an Adirondack chair, relaxing by the camp fire or as a colder day on the beach begins to end.  It's much more refreshing than it's darker hues would suggest, and it has a level of complexity which is astounding given it's relatively simple ingredients and description from Lake Placid Brewing Company.  The beer deserves a French on the PINTRS and I can't wait to drink the rest of them!

Stung By Uinta

So here's the thing about Utah.  There are some alcohol laws found in a few other states that key in on low-alcohol beers.  I'm usually turned off by low-alcohol beers because...well...I like alcohol.  I like it at a high content and I think you get your most refined but creative beers at the high alcohol beer level.  Uinta is going to try and prove me wrong today with HIVE Honey Stung Ale.

There it is.  Nice labeled bottle and if you can tell from the picture, it comes in a stouter bottle not the typical long-neck variety.  It stands it apart from all the other beers in the fridge (there are a lot in there, so it's important to stand out).  But what's on the inside?

Color is not the mead-like color you may have thought about in a 'honey' ale.  It's kind of like a tanned sandalwood color. The head is close to a summer ale (predicted that) but the color was certainly darker than expected.

Inside the bottle we have exactly what Uinta describes on their website; a bittersweet swallow.  This beer is highly carbonated in a very refreshing way.  It's bitterness reminds me of a copper/amber ale.  It leaves us off with a hint of sweetness that you have to go digging with your tastebuds to find.  When you compare this to a certain brewery's Honeymoon it comes up short. It certainly does impress for its 4% abv and for that we'll give it a satisfying, but not exceptional, US PINTRS rating.  Till next time!

Hippo over the River Saison

Tonight is a review from a brewery I have a love affair with River Horse Brewing Company.  Their website isn't as impressive as their beers.  I've grown quite fond of this gem along the Delaware River, and have high hopes for our taste this evening.

Each season,  River Horse Brewing Company does a different beer under its Brewer's Reserve label.  This season is a first tasting for me, they're Saison Belgian Style Farmhouse Ale.  This is a style of beer I've yet to taste so I decided to do a little research about what a saison farmhouse ale is all about.  According to Wikipedia, the saison ale originated from Wallonia, a French-speaking region of Belgium.  The beer was meant to be refreshing but local alcohol content so as not to easily intoxicate it's primary consumers, farmers.  It was meant to be just strong enough to prevent spoilage.  The US versions of saison ales are less concerned with the ABV content and more concerned with getting the hoppy base flavor just right.

The picture above doesn't do the beer's color justice.  The head is light and with a fizzy consistency.  It's got the sweet smell I'd expect from a honey ale or mead.  I was excited from the moment I poured it and was expecting the refreshing flavors of a Belgian wheat summer ale.

Wow, these flavors were complex.  It's hard to break down the complexity of all the flavors at work but I like to think of it as an explosion of spices and hops.  Lighter on spice than a Christmas ale which gets overpowered with nutmeg, but definitely a cavalcade of different spices at work here.  As far as getting a hop base right which is in traditional saisons, it's definitely there in force.  The two combine for something not quite light enough for a hot beach day but I look forward to coming home from a day of work and letting my body soak in the deliciousness that  River Horse Brewing Company has created with this saison.  I can't wait to stop by and hear the story behind this recipe from some of their staff.  This beer doesn't QUITE survive the test of all seasons that I'd like to see in a Scottish PINTRS, but it most certainly deserves a French rating. Till next time!

Going Several Rounds with Brawler

Hello everyone! Another installment of Good Brew Hunting coming at ya, this time sampling one of two brews I have from Yards Brewing Company, a Philadelphia-centric brewery with a lot of promise.  

Today's beer is Brawler, what's advertised as a craft beer in the style of English session ales.  WTF is an English session ale you ask?  Session ale is just your standard ale, in the case an English standard ale.  

Here it stands after the pour (mmm, I just love me the sight of a frosted glass).  The aromas are nothing noteworthy.  If you try REAL hard you may be able to detect a hint of malt.  It poured smoothly with a modest foam head.  The beer is described ruby in color but it's really a tarnished brass color; think the color of brass rings at an old-style carousel.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, go find an old-style carousel where they have brass rings and you'll have a simple but fun time. 


Tasting yielded a toasted malt flavor but without the sweetness.  More bittier than the classic American ale, but not offensively so.  The malt and bitterness bring out a light beer that could stand in the ring as a fall or winter selection.  Honestly, the beer has more flavor than most beers with an ABV of 4/2%.  It's always impressive when a beer can do more with less and in the case Yards Brewing Company deserves a tip of the cap for Brawler.  I feel comfortable with giving the beer a US rating on the PINTRS, and look forward to tasting some more!

How worthy is Witty?

Another long-overdue brew tasting! First let me say, the number of my reviews are not equal to the beers I'm drinking (the sign of a reviewer should be the true love of what he/she is reviewing so in this case, drinking lots of beer!).

Today we're looking at a selection from Chameleon Brewing Company.  Chameleon is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their mission is simple: they're in the business of making "innovative craft beers true to the American spirit."  For me, that means they're in the business of making beers that don't suck. Let's see whether my first experience with Chameleon is mission accomplished.

We're kicking back a bottle of Witty, a white wheat ale brewed with spices.  The Frosted Mug (the newsletter that comes with my beer shipment. See my earlier entries to catch up) gives Witty a description pretty floral in nature.  Ginger, coriander, lemongrass, pink peppercorn, and tangerine gum are all in a cloudy golden colored brew. We're supposed to be looking for some apple and even rye toast as it finishes.  Talk about asking a lot from a single beer! Oh, and that's a pretty cool label design.

While pouring this beer, I noticed some sediment on the bottom. It may be natural, given all that's going on in the bottle.  Not unexpected and it didn't transfer to the glass.  Also notice the huge head on this baby!  Could've been a difference in temperature between bottle to glass (or a shitty pour on my part) but I think Witty is somewhat heavy anyway.  The head is frothy.  It's aromatic too, light and hoppy with something I think is somewhat bitter.

On first swallow, I noticed how light the beer was in contrast to how strong and how many flavors were inside. The flavors are just light enough to be considered subtle, but strong enough to bring out individualities. Summer-like flavors (lemongrass and ginger for me) are matched by the citrus which must be attributed to the coriander (citrus spice) and the tangerine gum.  Crisp and clean finish and start, with flavor in the middle. That's a beer I can kick back often.

How do I know this beer was a good ol beer I'd love to keep in my fridge? It was over before I knew it!  That's the sign of a good beer in the white ale category (or any category, right?) and I look forward to more from this brewery.  This beer, for it's ability to separate itself from the class, deserves a French PINTRS mark.  Till next time!

Does Blue Heron have the wings to take flight?

Hey all!

WAY behind on my beer tastings, which just means I'm gonna have to drink more these next couple of weeks! Our last beer from the Mendocino Brewing Company is Blue Herron Pale Ale. The beer does have an awarding tradition. In 2010 it won a Silver Medal at the California State Fair (which is more prestigious than it sounds) and, according to Mendocino's website, a Bronze Award at the Great American Beer Festival (year unknown).

The beer has an average head that is quite frothy. As far as aroma, it's non-existent. Well, not completely. There is a VERY faint sweet smell to the brew, but nothing that really would enhance the drinking experience.

The best way to sum up the beer once it's been poured is light in color, light to drink. As described by Mendocino, Blue Heron is supposed to live up to the foundational qualities of an IPA with high alcohol content (6.1% ABV here) and high hoppy flavors. What does that actually translate to once you start drinking? This beer is easy to drink, with a heavy note of citrus on the taste buds. Surprisingly, this beer really doesn't have any of the signature 'cloudiness' I'd associate with these flavors. Mendocino said they were going for blend here, and they hit the mark. A little bitter and not overly hoppy. There is a slight, raw citrus aftertaste, but the more you drink it subsides substantially.

My verdict? A Flanders in the PINTRS. Not a creative IPA, is very baselines, but does not suck. I had a bit of an argument with myself about whether I can get disappointed at something for it being what is was. It's a pleasant brew, but not something I'd order by choice given other options. It certainly would deserve being kept in the fridge by someone who prefers a lighter, but not summer, beer.

Talk About Tail

Welcome all for another edition of Good Brew Hunting!

Our brew today hails from the West Coast, brought to us by Mendicino Brewing Company. While the company's website leaves something to be desired as far as design, it is full of information on their beers. They have two breweries, one north of San Francisco and one at Saratoga Springs, NY.

Today our tasting from Mendicino is Red Tail Ale.  Red Tail is considered the brewery's flagship beer, brewed as an amber ale. Of note is the brewery's use of bottle conditioning their beers, whereby fermentation continues in the bottle after bottling by adding active yeast right before capping.  So what's behind the plumage of this Tail?

Poured, the beer has a nice light brown tone. Best way to think of this is your common acorn color. The beer's head is actively bubbling at the pour and is of similar consistency to your common amber ale. There's nothing of note regarding the beer's aroma, perhaps slightly floral but that may be a stretch.

The beer does shine on taste. First sips are a delicate balance of sweet and hoppy bitterness. You don't have to go too deep in the flavoring before sensing the caramel in the brew either. The carbonation is also perfectly blended for a beer with full flavor.

There isn't too much more to say about Red Tail Ale as it really isn't complex for an amber ale. But it strikes me as the perfect foundational beer for a brewery to stand upon. This is the flagship of Mendicino Brewing Company for all the right reasons. In closing, because it's such a solid performer as an amber ale, I give it a UK rating.

Copper Sinks with Saranac

Good Evening All! Time for another beer review in my quest to test some of the best out there.

Saranac is one of the more recognizable of the American craft brewers, owned by the FX Matt Brewing Company and is located in Utica, NY. Saranac and it's history is well described in the FAQ at the top of the Saranac website and I encourage those of us interested in the history of the brewery to turn there.

What we poured this evening from Saranac was their India Copper Ale. Described as taking India Ale to "the next level," Saranac didn't do anything particularly ingenious in this one. They state that this brew is the product of careful paring of malts with the traditional hoppiness of an India Ale. Well let's see what that actually means for our taste buds.

Here's the pour. You'll notice the beer has the typical medium copper tone, but isn't too shaded. The head on this one is light and bubbly, nothing too serious or complex. Taking my first sniff of the beer it gives off a mild aroma, again nothing too complex. If I could say anything about the aroma, it was slightly bitter but not unexpectedly in an India Ale.

When I took my first sip, I noticed a lot of flavor. A nice, hefty punch inside the mouth. As I finished my sip (or gulp, really), the beer left what could best be described as a slight metallic taste in my mouth. Reminded me of copper, really, but that's pretty much the style of the beer anyway. A note: if you take a bigger mouthful of this beer, I experienced a tangy or bitterness towards the back corners of my mouth. Really interesting when compared to a sip. Do both and see what you think.

The beer retained a delightful fizzy-ness with each swallow. It really felt like an end-of-autumn beer. What wasn't retained? My continuing interest in the brew's actually flavor with each continued taste. It just lost my interest. It didn't retain what I would have characterized as a flavorful beer after a third of the glass was empty.

As I stated, there was nothing particularly amazing with this beer. It targeted to India Ale category and hit all the marks. But it didn't do anything to separate itself from the pack. I was waiting for it, but it never came.  For that, the India Copper Ale from Saranac only stacks up to a US on the PINTRS. Till next time!

-JDM